[mjburgess]

To add to this even further:

In europe we just directly regulate behaviour either by directly taxing it or making it illegal.

In the US they set tax levels much higher and then offer breaks as incentives.

The latter has the philosophical virtue of making behaviour "expensive but not illegal" (ie., in europe you cannot legally avoid the tax).

However it dramatically complicates government and makes US citizens dramatically "overtaxed" absent these breaks. What we in europe often miss is that the US anti-tax lobby is reacting to a very different tax environment that is, on paper, very extreme.